On Jan 15, the Spanish (original colonizer) oil company Repsol spilled over 6,000 barrels of oil in a Peruvian port after waves from the distant Tonga volcanic eruption rocked their tanker in port while unloading oil. Peruvians have been protesting Repsol ever since, demanding accountability. One of these protests took place on Feb 13 at the Embassy of Peru here in Washington DC.

In Peru, four of Repsol's executive criminals have been banned from leaving the country for 18 months as the investigation proceeds. There is talk of cancelling Repsol's refinery contract, stopping production there or even nationalizing their refinery outright as compensation for the disaster. Repsol was unloading oil from the ship when tsunami waves from the distant Tonga volcanic blast arrived, after knowing in advance the waves were coming.

For 500 years Spanish colonizers have plundered Peru, and Repsol can be compared to an oil-sucking mosquito continuing that tradition. Part of the price of this plunder has been the nearly complete elimination of all income for hundreds of fisherman in the area. An estimated 9 million square meters has been fouled Nobody wants to eat fish fried in crude oil. The usual oil-soaked birds etc have also been seen around the spill. Repsol's executives are lucky they won't likely end up tarred and feathered like what they did to all those birds.

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